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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Retropinacol/Cross-pinacol Coupling Reactions - A Catalytic Access to 1,2-Unsymmetrical Diols
Published on: April 4, 2014
Synthesis of Differentially Protected myo- and chiro-Inositols from D-Xylose; Stereoselectivity in Intramolecular
Giovanni Luchetti1, Kejia Ding, Alexander Kornienko
1Department of Chemistry, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, USA.
Abstract:
Methods for the enantioselective conversion of D-xylose to differentially protected myo-inositol and L-chiro-inositol have been developed. The key transformation is a highly diastereoselective intramolecular SmI(2)-promoted pinacol coupling. The stereoselectivity was extremely dependent on the conditions, suggesting a change in mechanism. Preliminary mechanistic experiments and possible explanations for this behavior are discussed.
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